IN THE NEWS

"'Flavors of Oakland' is a solid, honest-to-goodness cookbook with tested recipes and a spine that thankfully allows for any page to stay open when flopped on the kitchen counter. It weaves together 20 very different life stories of home cooks from every nook and cranny of the city" -Kate Williams , Editor and Journalist

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENTMARCH 2016

"In their book, Sontag and Ku use biographies, recipes and photographs to capture the essence of each “flavor” of Oakland. Their larger project aims to use food as a means to bring people together and break down barriers between the many cultures represented in Oakland." - UCOP

"While Sontag and Ku hope their cookbook will contribute in breaking cultural barriers in younger generations, they already have made a valuable contribution: compiling a book of recipes and stories, that portray Oakland as the diverse, thriving, changing city it is today." -Natalie Keltner-McNeil, reporter for the Berkeley High Jacket

"[Flavors of Oakland tells the story of] a diverse city of many cultures. [Oakland] is a place where immigrants seek home, where families who have been here for generations mingle with those new to the Town, in all colors and styles" -Oaklandish

"Indeed, Ku and Sontag have approached the 'Flavors' project with as much curiosity as ambition. Sontag speaks with visible enthusiasm about each dish he learned to prepare. Ku says that working on the cookbook has changed her perspective on food" -Kate Williams , Editor and Journalist

EAST BAY EXPRESSSeptember 2015

"Because of their unique focus, Anya and Elazar hope to share their book with all of the city. To do so, they aim to give free copies of their book to all schools, libraries, and youth organizations in Oakland. This ambitious goal highlights even more their dedication to this city. “Oakland is my home, Oakland is my family.” Anya says. They have recently started a crowdfunding campaign in an attempt to raise money for the printing costs of their book" -Margarita Ku, reporter for Oakland Tech Scribe

"Just out of high school at Oakland Tech, Anya is in the midst of a creating a cookbook about Oakland food as a way to bring people together to break down the barriers that keep us apart. As she puts it, "we connect with people all over the city, collecting recipes and stories, and compiling them into a narrative cookbook that celebrates what is beautiful about Oakland." Not only [are her and Elazar] documenting and narrating the process, but also she is photographing the people and the food. And her photos are remarkably beautiful...and remember, she just graduated high school! Yeah, that's what Oakland youth are doing" - Stephen Texeira, photographer

THE MONTCLARION December, 2014

"If food is love, then Oakland student Anya Ku has a winner with her new cookbook “Flavors of Oakland.” Ku and friend Elazar Sontag are interviewing and photographing folks from a variety of backgrounds and letting each cook a dish from their culture. The end result will be a cross-cultural cookbook that Ku hopes will encourage unity in Oakland. 'We want to encourage people to cross racial boundaries and realize that we have more in common than we have differences,' she says" -Ginny Prior, Journalist

PAULDING & COMPANY NOVEMBER, 2014

"Elazar and [Anya] will find local home cooks who have a background in the Bay Area and do an interview with them. The interview will focus on the person’s history in the Bay Area and something they love to cook. The interviewee will get a chance to help write a story of the East Bay Area and have a recipe published. The final products will be compiled into a cookbook and an event will be hosted to show off the book and the people who helped write it" -Terry Paulding, Founder of the team building kitchen.

EAST BAY EXPRESS October, 2014

"[This is] an ambitious photo/cooking project called 'Flavors of Oakland,' wherein regular folks in Oakland will share recipes from their cultural backgrounds. The project will culminate with the creation of a small cookbook and a meal that will feature all of the shared dishes" -Luke Tsai, Food Writer